Chapter 12 The Local Tyrant, the County Magistrate

The little girl’s tears flowed like beads, “There’s a Zhanyang County less than a few miles from this village. The county magistrate of Zhanyang County is surnamed Chen, he’s the nephew of the current empress. Because he relies on being a relative of the emperor, he has become a local tyrant in this area, acting like a king, and doesn’t treat us commoners as human beings!”

Her eyes were filled with hatred as she continued, “He not only forcibly takes our grain, but also bullies the women in our village. Whether they are married or unmarried, he sends people to snatch them to his mansion. He claims they are going to work in his county office, but in reality, he locks them up in the backyard for his own amusement!”

The little girl cried harder as she spoke.

Chu Chenyin quickly took out her handkerchief and wiped her tears, searching her mind for this County Magistrate Chen, but there seemed to be no record of him in history books.

She asked her, “Girl, where is your family?”

The little girl clenched her fists tightly, biting her lower lip, “My mother was taken to his mansion by his men a year ago. She didn’t live for three months, and her body was wrapped in a straw mat and thrown on the back mountain by the people of the Chen Mansion. My father went to seek justice, but his leg was broken. After he barely survived, he sent people to kidnap me to the Chen Mansion. My father and elder brother refused to agree, and they were beaten to death by his men. I escaped and hid here.”

Chu Chenyin listened, sighing with emotion. Such a thing could happen in broad daylight.

But on second thought, it was understandable. That dog emperor was a tyrant, and his subordinates were just as bad.

Fu Yanting didn’t seem surprised at all. He took out a silver ingot and gave it to the little girl, as a reward for her kind reminder, then he took Chu Chenyin back to the small earthen house.

As fate would have it, they hadn’t even reached home when the soldiers who were collecting grain from the village arrived.

These soldiers collected grain from four or five families, and finally arrived at the small earthen house where Chu Chenyin’s family was staying. They shouted loudly inside, “Pay your grain! Pay your grain!”

“What grain?” Marquis Fu didn’t know what was going on.

It was Laifu who reacted first. He had heard from his fellow villagers about the situation in Zhanyang County, and he whispered to Marquis Fu.

Marquis Fu was so angry that he slammed his fist on the table, “Forcing the people to pay grain, they are truly lawless!”

Lady Fu whispered from the side, “Alright, we are refugees now, don’t be so loud. Just pay the grain, we’ll give them the bag of rice we have.”

Marquis Fu, who was originally full of anger, now deflated. He waved his hand to Laifu, “Go, give them a bag of rice.”

They didn’t have much rice with them, and Laifu hesitated, “Marquis, this…”

The soldiers outside began to get impatient and rushed in, “Where’s the grain?!”

Fu Xingcheng in the room held his sword, gritting his teeth, wishing he could rush out and kill those people, “Father, Mother, we can’t give them the grain.”

Fu Jianghong directly strode out, “Father, Mother, don’t move, I’ll go out and take a look.”

When they left the Marquis Mansion, she had already changed into men’s clothing for convenience, wearing gray-black clothes, and her face was painted black, making her look like a farmer.

“Pay your grain, what grain?” she asked the soldiers in the courtyard.

These soldiers saw that she was a stranger, and they said arrogantly, “This is the rule of Zhanyang County. All the villages in the county have to pay grain to our county magistrate, ten dan every month.”

Ten dan was no small amount. No matter how fertile Zhanyang County was, ordinary farmers wouldn’t have enough grain to pay!

Fu Jianghong frowned, “We just arrived in the village, we haven’t planted any crops yet, we don’t have any grain!”

Those soldiers, after hearing this, looked into the room with lecherous expressions, “No grain, a girl will do.”

Although Fu Jianghong had a fierce personality, she was ultimately a woman. Seeing their lecherous looks, she guessed what was going on and directly interrupted coldly, “If you want a girl, go to the brothel, there’s none here!”

The soldiers didn’t believe her, “There’s none here, there must be. Hurry up, either pay the grain or give us a girl. If you don’t give us anything, just wait to go to the county office!”

Their so-called going to the county office meant being taken to the county office and beaten with thirty lashes. Ordinary farmers couldn’t withstand such punishment, so they could only obey, living a miserable life.

Chu Chenyin and Fu Yanting returned just in time to see this scene. The two of them frowned, their patience with these soldiers had reached its limit.

“You want a girl, alright, I’ll go with you!” Chu Chenyin stepped forward.

“Sister-in-law!” Fu Jianghong was startled.

The soldiers also turned to look at Chu Chenyin when they heard the voice.

Chu Chenyin’s original body looked exactly like her, a stunning beauty with delicate features.

A beauty suddenly appeared in the small village, and the soldiers were all stunned, their saliva almost drooling.

Chu Chenyin smiled, “If you want me to go, that’s fine, but officer, you see, our family has been fleeing from famine and haven’t eaten for days. I wonder if we can go to your mansion to beg for some food.”

The soldiers, hearing this, gathered together and whispered.

“This little beauty, the master will definitely like her.”

“That’s right, no matter how many people she has, let’s take them all back to the county office first.”

“Yes, take them all away, maybe the master will reward us.”

“Then hurry up!”

After they discussed it, they quickly smiled at Chu Chenyin, “Okay, come with us.”

Chu Chenyin and Fu Yanting exchanged glances, with smiles in their eyes.

Fu Jianghong was confused, she walked behind them and asked, “Brother, Sister-in-law, what are you up to? These soldiers are obviously up to no good!”

Fu Yanting whispered something in her ear.

Fu Jianghong’s eyes curved into a smile, and she quickly went inside to tell Marquis Fu and Lady Fu about it.

Marquis Fu and Lady Fu were also smart people. After hearing Fu Yanting’s plan, they immediately cooperated.

The family packed up the luggage they had laid out, and put everything back into the carriage as it was before.

Then, they all got on the carriage and followed the soldiers to the mansion of County Magistrate Chen in Zhanyang County.

Before they entered, the leading soldier went into the mansion to greet him, “Master, we found a beautiful young lady for you, she’s outside now, but she brought her whole family to mooch off you.”